The worries of state procurement and storage agencies may accentuate, as the wheat crop this rabi season is likely to have a higher output this year.
The Ministry of Agriculture has projected a crop size of 82 million tonnes as compared to 80.71 million tonnes last year.
“Although a bonus of Rs 20 a quintal is a pittance, it will not dissuade farmers from growing wheat, as it is a stable crop and demands less supervision,” said Maliram, a farmer in Uttar Pradesh.
The Madhya Pradesh government has announced a bonus of Rs 100 a quintal over and above the minimum support price. This would encourage farmers to increase the area under cultivation, said Raj Kumar Garg, president of Roller Flour Millers Association of India.
According to a senior official at the Wheat Research Institute in Karnal, the good monsoon in the year 2010 will help farmers across India reap a better wheat crop.
Sowing has already commenced in Punjab and Haryana and it should be over in a fortnight. In other parts of the country, sowing will start by November-end and will be done in a month.
“Wheat sowing in Gujarat is expected to be much higher. Last year, wheat was sown on one million hectare. It will be 15-20 per cent higher this time,” said N C Patel, vice-chancellor, Junagadh Agriculture University.
Ghaziabad-based Adi Narayan Gupta, chairman of Wheat Products Promotion Society, said if the weather remained favourable in February and March, the country would have a bumper crop.
The total area under wheat in the country was 28.52 million hectare in 2009-10. This is likely to increase, as the states like Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat are upcoming states in wheat cultivation. The Directorate of Economics and Statistics Government of India would compile the information on total area under wheat by February. A marginal drop in acreage is anticipated in Punjab and Haryana due to the diversion of land for real estate and industrial use, but it is likely to be compensated by increased acreage in the Central India.
(With inputs from Vimukt Dave in Rajkot)
